The L’Honey Program
Contact Us
Products
Honey - $8.50
12 oz glass hex jar
Blackberry/Honey Jam - $6.00
8 oz
all prices are a suggested donation
St. Leo YouTube Paint Bee Hives – Improving Habitat with Art!
Spring is in the air and our honeybees are excited about this season of hope renewed! I think we could all use a little sunshine and spring flowers, and our bees REALLY LIKE that idea.
The honeybees will get busy this spring as quick as they can, gathering pollen and nectar to feed their young. Every drop of nectar or gain of pollen is precious to a honeybee colony trying to raise their young. In the hustle-n-bushel of spring foraging, there are many times when tired worker bees end up returning to the wrong hive in the apiary. This is because so many times, the hives look alike! We all can relate to making mistakes after a long hard day at work, right??!!
So, to help the bees out and remedy this tired worker bee problem, our youth have come to the rescue!!! Why not paint all the hives various designs and colors to they will be easier for a tired, home-bound honeybee worker to identify their home for a safe return with the “groceries”! Kristin and the youth group have been painting our hives really cool designs and colors that will be used in the apiaries during coming weeks and months!
Check out some of the cool pictures of our youth at work, helping out Sister Bee! What a fun way to help build better habitat for our friends the Honey Bees.
L’Honey: Reflections from the Bee-yard May 2022
We are managing our bees the best we can with this unpredictable weather situation caused by Global Warming that has weakened the jet-stream and has caused it to be unpredictable. Yes, it is a very cool spring caused by global warming!!!!!!!
So far in the bee-yard we have tested for Varro Mites and have found only a low infection rate. We will continue to treat hives as needed through the season to keep this pest manageable. We have made a few splits (new colonies) with some of our stronger hives that wanted to swarm as well as introduced 5 purchased queens out of Oregon. At L’Arche Farms we caught one swarm and re-hived those bees!!!
We hope these new hives will help replace some of our winter losses as well as improve genetic diversity in our bee-yards.
Our 1st school presentation this season will be happening at the end of the month at Roosevelt Elementary School. This will be a lot of fun talking about honeybees to 2nd graders!!!!!
Also, we are looking into a partnership with a start-up effort to improve the hive splitting process that would improve outcomes, be less stressful on parent colonies and maintained the chance of a good honey harvest.
++++++++
Our focus for 2022 & beyond continues to be the championing of Care for Creation. Addressing the Climate Crisis MUST BE a primary focus for us all!!! If you have any ideas on how we can do more to help the Planet with our beekeeping program, please let me know! Moreover, I am happy to me with any school or community group interested in honeybee or want to be more involved with the Care.
The steps to a healthy planet that has sustains diversity and life!
- Engage in sustained and productive work to preserve and/or heal your local ecosystems and the life it contains.
- Create that relationship with the natural world and fall in love with Mother Nature -REAL, NOT VIRTUAL
- Support and vote for ONLY candidates that will place caring for Creation and promoting renewable energy at TOP Priority
- Consume less and live simply
- As much as possible AVOID the use of plastics and call for alternatives
- Be loving and kind to all living creatures and give all glory to God.
Volunteer Opportunities
L’Honey is looking for volunteers interested in sustainability and bees:
- Visits to our bee yard to learn about the bees and help assist in their care
- Hive maintenance
- Candle, soap and hand balm making
- Host an educational opportunity and schools and other civic institutions
- Promote product sales
- Help with educational presentations
Bee Healthy Garden Initiative 2022
As we did last year, we are encouraging gardening at you home, school and community. Gardening and caring for living things is the best way to form relationships with the natural world and to foster love and compassion for Creation. We are tasks to Till and to Keep Creation (Gen:2-15). Our purpose in Creation is to Love each other, care for Creation and to give all glory to God alone.
Let’s take proactive steps to rediscover our right relationship with the natural world. One simple start to this could be gardening!!!!
If you want to start a garden or enhance your current endeavors, consider getting seed and plants from the St. Leo Bee-Healthy Initiative.
Here is how:
- Browse through the Territorial Seed Company catalogue and identify the seeds you would like – (https://territorialseed.com/pages/catalog-digital-edition)
- Note the name, item # and quantity of your seed
- Contact Rick Samyn at: larchelhoneybeekeeping@gmail.com and relay seed information, your name, contact info and address to Rick
- Rick will order your seeds and get them to you
- Also, we will have after mass plant giveaways this spring at both Sacred Heart and St. Leo’s. Dates: Sundays – April 24th, May 8th May 22nd, May 29th, June 12th & June 26th.
- Get outside, plant, garden & fall in love with Creation. Our future depends on it!!!
If you have any questions, please contact Rick Samyn at: (253) 229-4114 or larchelhoneybeekeeping@gmail.com
Rick: 253 229-4114 or larchelhoneybeekeeping@gmail.com
Educational Partnerships
The L’Honey Beekeeper works with educators and student groups in the promotion of sustainable beekeeping and caring for our environment. For more information on the L’Honey Program please contact Rick Samyn at 253.229-4114 or larchelhoneybeekeeping@gmail.com